Rehearsals next few weeks

As some of you already know, I'm going in for an operation on 1 May and will be recovering from that for 2 to 4 weeks. I'll have my lower jaw broken and extended so I have no idea how I'll feel and if I'll able to play during that time. Fortunately, our great Erin has agreed to take the classes while I'm away, so you don't have to go without your weekly samba!

This Thursday April the 24th will therefore be my last samba rehearsal for a few weeks - I really hope to see all of you then! We'll rehearse a few songs as well as some rhythms. Mel and Cedric could you please bring the microphone and amp etc.

Also, we are close to agreeing a gig on Saturday afternoon 10 May in Logan. Erin will more than likely lead this gig! Please keep an eye on the blog for further details.

Steph's birthday Confirmation!!

ADDRESS: 7 OAKMONT GROVE, KARANA DOWNS
TIME: 6.30-7PM
U CAN BRING: A DRINK OF SOME KIND?

I forgot the picture I wanted to post but it will be available for private viewing at my place on Saturday...

All sambistas!
Saturday night is now confirmed as THE date so get your coconut bras and grass skirts ready (I've got to get mine out and clean-up the dust... I'll post a picture to prove it tomorrow...)

Marcel, you are so cheap... Not even flying across the world for this






Ciao!

Stephanie's birthday!!

I know this sounds familiar, but I'm organising a birthday party for Stephanie (yes, she's turning 21 like Remko, how lucky is this?).

Here is the deal....

When: this Saturday night (still to be confirmed)
Where: at our new home in Karana Downs (still 1/2hr from Brisbane)
Theme: YES - TAHITI AND THE ISLANDS

Relax, fancy dressing is not an obligation... Actually, running naked around the house drinking lots of MaiTai would still do it...

Anyway, we'll supply some food, some Tahitian cocktail and heaps of traditional music. Despite this being her birthday, I might even get Stephanie to work and dance some nice Tamure for us while I drink my cocktail... (typical Tahitian male actually).

I would really like you guys to provide me some quick feedback on your availability. I know it's short notice and I'm trying to figure out whether that's gonna fly...

Cheers
Cedric

By the way, Marcel you are welcome...

Remko's Birthday

? Primavera Rap

Remko's birthday present

Happy Birthday call

Hi guys,
Sorry I had to quit somewhat abruptly but I had to take that call and it took a bit longer than expected. It was great seeing all of you again though, and may I say Melanie, your butt still looks marvelous.
I do bloody hope that I get the chance to come over and visit you lot sometime soon, but it may be a safer bet if you guys make it over here. I can do some tour bookings?

My birthday

Today marks my birthday, yet again! Besides having a great party tonight (like every other Thursday night) I'd like to do something on Saturday as well:

• 7pm Nicki and I will be at our favourite Indian restaurant in Ashgrove, on the way to the Gap. We'd love you to join us. The food is great, and the prices are reasonable.
• After that (approx. 9pm), we'll continue drinking wine & beer on our deck at our house in the Gap. If you don't like Indian you can still come here!
  

Again, I'd love you all to join us. Please drop me an email or let me know tonight.

PS: this is a good opportunity to see me cry, as I will have their famous hot vindaloo...

Drumming Technique

Hi,
I've heard a few people say they would be keen to play caixa but struggle with speed etc.

I think the remedy to this is to spend a little time looking at good drumming technique and so I'm happy to lend anyone a drumming DVD of mine on technique which covers a few things that we don't go over in class. The first 30min would be enough to watch.

Basically, with any stick drumming your fingers and wrists should play an important role (perhaps more so than your forearms). I definitely wouldn't be able to play as fast as we do at samba school if I had to move my whole forearm for each stroke! Watching the first half an hour of this should be enough (combined with a bit of practice) to get people playing agogo, tambourin, and caixa more comfortably and ergonomically and thus for longer periods at faster tempos.

While we're talking about next week's practice......

....... can we practice the technique of playing whisper-quiet when we're doing a song?

I'm really pleased we're starting to rehearse songs. It'll all add to our eventual "act". But given we're complaining we can't hear the singer, can we do something positive and try playing so quietly that the song can actually be heard?

There's a tendency when playing softly to slow right down. It's a skill, playing softly but still fast. So can that be something we try next Thursday?

Changes at the Polish Club

With the sharp decline in bar revenue caused by Marcel's departure, the Polish Club has decided to close the bar at 8pm on Thursdays. I now have a key to lock up the place when we're done.

To make sure we don't have to go completely without Polish beers, it will be possible to buy drinks prior to 8pm and keep them cool in the fridge in the kitchen downstairs. I'll make sure we'll have a break just before 8pm for you to buy some drinks (but only if we can start at a reasonable time, so don't arrive late).

Three days and counting.......

Yes, I have the sweaty desperation of a junkie comin' down hard, but I'm hanging in there, shivering cold in the corner, foetal position, ha ha ha.

Last day of March

Today is the last day of March. Let's find out if we receive some good news on Thursday...

Tonight

Everybody ready for tonight's rehearsal? Time for a new song - one specially requested by the great Fernando (has he heard the drums yet?). Tamborim players, take your Red Bull....!

See you then!

Message from Andy

I just received the following message from Andy:

Hi remko .

i broke my back in japan snowboarding!!

looks like i won't be at samba for a couple of months but consider me there
again when my rehabilitation is over.

hope everything's going well and lots of people playing samba.

please tell me if you got this email, i.e. reply!

bye for now.

andy

If he really broke his back he's pretty lucky to be back in a couple of months! On behalf of everyone in the Samba School, I wish him a speedy recovery!

Tomorrow's rehearsal

Hope everyone enjoyed the Olodum concert!!!

A few people (Patty, Angus, Paul, Fernando) can't make tomorrow's rehearsal. With Easter weekend starting on Friday, could you please let me know if you won't be there either? If there's not enough people I'll cancel the rehearsal. Note at this stage I plan to go ahead as per normal, with a special treat for our tamborim players (be afraid..... be very afraid ;-)

Olodum Ticket

Hi Guys, I have a spare ticket to sell.
Is anyone interested? I can work out a discount.
Cheers
Fernando

Olodum concert tomorrow

The Olodum concert starts at 8pm. Let's meet before that at the bar in Cascade Court!

Monoblobo

This is video from monobloco, a popular percussion group from Rio de Janeiro. They sing MPB songs and use percussion instruments as well as a cavaquinho.
Cheers
Fernando


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZRHeUBpXmw&feature=related

Instruments inventory

Today I did a big inventory of all instruments, and I labeled all of them as well. A few things I noticed I'd like to share with you:

• If anyone has borrowed any instruments, please let me know ASAP.
• A few instruments, in particular small instruments like agogos, shakers and tamborims, have disappeared. Can I ask everyone to keep an eye out when we have public workshops please. Sad but true.
• I noticed I've got a few instruments here that aren't mine. Please look after your own instruments, and write your name on them. Also, one of the benefits of you buying your own instrument is that I won't have to carry them all the time, so please don't leave them with me anyway...

Thanks!

Olodum tickets

Just a quick note that I'll be handing out the Olodum tickets tonight. If you're not there tonight, you'll have to meet me prior to the concert to pick up your tickets, or ask someone else to pick up your ticket on your behalf.

See you tonight for another great rehearsal: samba reggae, repeat of last week's song, and a new (samba reggae) song!

Paul's going to Brazil

Hi all,
As you probably know, I'm off to Brazil on 18 March. If you absolutely must, can't live without, don't mind imposing on Paul's holiday, no-matter-what-I-have-to-have-it, desperately want me to bring something back for you, let me know. I'd prefer that you email me than respond to this blog posting. Please don't wait for Thursday and think I'll remember what you want if you tell me at practice. I may not make it to practice this week as I have a big work week ahead. I will try to get there though. I'll miss you all when I'm lying on the beach in Rio and gazing at dental floss.

Marcel, if there's anything I can send to you to bring a little Brazilian sunshine to your day, I'd be happy to oblige.

Tchau,
Paulo

Date Claimer

Hi Everyone!

Please mark the evening of Saturday 17th May on your calendars as my roaring twenties themed birthday party. I'll send around further details closer to the date.

Cheers!

Logan International Womens Day gig today

I meant to get someone to take some pics of us performing and then promptly forgot the camera was in my bag. Duh!

Anyway, here's a couple I did take later on.......

First, Shekere Diva and her million-watt smile.



Next, DJ DIIINNNHHH!!!! Yaaay! (You have to make "funk" noises when you look at this one)




Hey Marcel, notice how SUNNY and WARM it is???? :)

I think we should have these caps as part of our new uniform - they really sparkle in the sun.

This Saturday's Gig!!

Hi everyone. Here are the details for the International Women's Day gig:

(P.S. I came home from the pub just for this...)

Venue: Logan Women's Health and Wellbeing Centre

Address: 1 Mary Street, Kingston.

Time to arrive: 10:30 am please to help unpack gear

Time to perform: 11 am

Workshop (play if you want to): 11:15 - 11:45am

Wear: whatever you like - relaxed and comfortable

Bring: what instruments you normally would bring/play

How to find the place:

Get onto the M1 heading south towards Gold Coast, and when you pass through Springwood with the Hungry Jacks and KFC on the left there will be one exit there just past the fast food boardwalk, but don't take that one, take the Chatswood Rd exit, which is the next one ( I think it's exit 24, but not sure to be honest) - there is a BMW Motorline place on the corner of the turn off. Continue along the service road (Chatswood Rd) which then comes to a roundabout. Turn right (which is still Chatswood Rd), and then you come to another roundabout. Turn right again and follow this road (Paradise, but there's no sign I think) between green mounds and some trees, and you reach another roundabout. Go straight through the roundabout which continues on as Paradise Rd (IKEA will be on your right).

You will pass a church on your left, then schools on your left and right. Continue to the end of Paradise Rd and turn left into Kingston Rd. Follow Kingston Rd past the shops, past Woolworths servo, and you will see on your left a sign which says LIBERTY and has a clock above it. Keep continuing on but look at the left side street names now. You will see Queens Rd, then Augustus, and then Clare street. When you go to pass Clare street you will notice another street which veers off Kingston Rd going downwards alongside the Kingston Rd barricade. TAKE THIS ONE. IT is Mary Street, and there is a sign indicating so.

At the bottom of the little hill is the Logan Women's Health Centre, which is painted a turquoise and maroon colour scheme (I think they are even Women's Day colours!)

Park either along the street, or in the Kingston Train Station parking, which is right next to the place. Remko can drive in and unload, but watch out for market stallholders I am told.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Easy to catch a train as it is right next to the Kingston train station. Get on the Beenleigh line (from anywhere between Park Rd station and Brunswick Street), and continue on past Kuraby, Trinder Park, Woodridge, and then get off at Kingston, the next stop.

WELL, I hope to see you there. It will be good to kick off the year with an easy and casual gig. Get the ball rolling, etc.

IF my directions are too crazy for you, you can look up Mary Street Kingston on http://www.whereis.com/ and get a pretty piccy. I tried to add the image of it but it wouldn't let me.

Cheers everyone. Happy Women's Day! And happy birthday to PAUL tomorrow!!! :)

Thank you!

Thanks everyone for a great rehearsal yesterday! It really glued together, and I hope we can continue this way because it sounded great! I really felt the groove as it should be. Don't know why though, we had some new people on different instruments, and we also had 3 fantastic caixas that really put the groove down well. Fantastic.

Thanks to Denis and Will for purchasing authentic caixas, it makes a big difference in the sound!
Also thanks to Cedric and Fernando for helping out with singing the song! And to Melanie for helping out with the sound system!

Tonight's rehearsal

Hi all, we've got a jam-packed rehearsal tonight, it's going to be great. What I'd like to do tonight:

• revision of Funk (including beautyful agogo line)
• revision paradinhas
• revision samba-reggae / Olodum
• a song!!!! Includes one break we need to practice, and I'd like to work on tamborim lines, and some well-timed shaker lines. Also for all to get experience to play together with cavaquinho
• if we have time: another song: samba-reggae!
  

I'll also have a sign-in list for the upcoming Olodum workshops for you.

See you tonight - and please be on time as we've got a lot to do.

To our smokers...

This post is specifically for the smokers in the samba school.

A dutch insurer is now offering a special 'attractive' insurance to heavy smokers. Eligible smokers need to do a urine test to confirm they have smoked at least 5 cigarettes per day for at least 5 years. I won't translate all the details, but of course this insurance is based on the significantly reduced life expectancy.

I'm sure the few smokers in our samba school already get sick of me encouraging them to stop. However, articles like the above again make it painfully clear how bad this habit is.

I hereby offer all current smokers in the samba school 6 months of free classes if they decide to stop before the end of March and keep it up.

Olodum workshops

Here are the details for the Olodum workshops on Sunday 16 March. There's two workshops:

• Intermediate: 10.30am - 12.30pm
• Advanced: 1pm - 3pm

Both workshops are $40 (each).

I suggest we all book together - let me know which workshop(s) you want to attend and I'll book us in.

Thanks for your greetings

Lynne kindly dropped in a lovely birthday card for me that everyone had signed last Thursday night. Thanks so much! I am really touched. So far, I haven't had a lot of time to brood over my advanced great old age, because I've been having too much fun. :)

See you next Thursday, and thanks again.

Patty

Thursday Night Pictures

Folk here are some pictures and video snippets of last Thursday practice, because I though we always have pictures of our gigs but we never capture what we do for the bulk of the time.

Link to pcassa web pictures for you http://picasaweb.google.com/BlizWizz/2008TypicalSambaPracticeNight

International Women's Day - Time to haul out the Pink&Greens?

Hi all!
I just wish to flag with you the date of March 8, International Women's Day, also known as Paul's birthday, and a probable gig. It's a Logan one (I'm almost waiting for the groans) and location is the Logan Women's Health and Wellbeing Centre - there is a celebration there, which will be a bit of an opening for them as well, as they have just moved location. Not sure what it will be yet, but those who have heard about our playing there have shown excitement at the prospect. Maybe a workshop as well as performance, but not drawn out or anything. Should be easy, relaxed and fun.

There will be other stuff going on as well throughout the day (10-2 I think), like bellydancing, yoga I think, martial arts, health presentations, secret women's business (just joking, all are welcome). At the beginning I am told there will be a smoking ceremony (I will be in my prime) to ward off evil spirits (uh oh), so those who are into the more mystical and ethereal you might want to get there when it kicks off (10am I think). I would love for you to be there if you can, as I think it would be nice to have a first gig for the year such as this where we can just do our thang. Will be a performance and maybe a workshop. Give or take.

And especially if Paul can make it, we should have birthday celebrations too! Just want to see if people can make it. Happy to organise something.

More "Uncharted"

Another song on video - enjoy!

move!

Ok, so they didn't actually use the beam, and I never managed to get that 2nd Surdo through customs. And that after it took a substantial amount of time to convince the airline that the surdo really was my handbag. Oh well, we did get everything else, and we managed to block the road for large parts of the day!

Where is Marcel now? Here is Marcel now!

Sure, it took a while, but this is where Dionne and I are now. The house in the middle, second floor from the top. Right on the Amstel river. Yes, that is Amstel as in Amsterdam, and Amstel beer, but no, that doesn't mean you can drink the river water. As a matter of fact, I'd advise against swimming in it too, unless you're a British tourist of course. In which case I say be my guest, mate!

Of course you're all very welcome to come and stay, although I'd have to warn you that the size on the picture is very close to the actual size...

Marcel
ps: jees, are you lot boooring. Thank god for shakerdiva or all of the postings would be boring stuff here!

Message from Celia of Vulcana

Hi All,
Now that the year is well under way again and we have all had time to digest what is was that we all got up to so successfully for a considerable part of lives in 2007 I’d love to invite you all to a Sunday afternoon gathering to recall our triumphs and to share thoughts on the process of making Uncharted. We’d love to hear your feedback on the whole event and to catch up on what you’ve all been up to.
I’m suggesting Sunday 17 Feb at 2pm. If you bring a small plate to share, we’ll provide beverages and picnic rugs and we could meet on the lawn directly opposite the Studio rehearsal room. I’ll make sure we have a rain plan in place!
We don’t have the final edit of the DVD but editing is underway, but I will be able to give you all copies of photos of the show.
Let me know if you can come and I look forward to seeing you all.
Cheers
Celia

Not Brazil, but Bulerias

Here is some amazing talent - if we could only play with as much passion as she dances with.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7oAqvYTww4&NR=1

Agogo workshop

Primavera Pegs

How do you like my new clothes pegs? I saw them at Big W and decided I definitely needed more pegs. :)

Da DAAAA! Rio Carnaval results for 2008

Champions: Beija-Flor - 399.3 pts
2nd Salgueiro 398 pts
3rd Grande Rio 396.9 pts
4th Portela 396.8 pts
5th Unidos da Tijuca 396.5 pts
6th Imperatriz 396.5 pts
7th Viradouro 396 pts
8th Mocidade 395.1 pts
9th Vila Isabel 394.6 pts
10th Mangueira 393.9 pts
11th Porto da Pedra 388.2 pts
12th Sao Clemente 387.5 pts

Documentary on Samba tonight

There's a documentary on at SBS tonight 10pm:

Samba! follows the six month build up to Rio's famous carnival. Beneath the light and glitter, a battle is underway between the carnival's aging founders and the new businessmen with different interest that now run it. Is carnival nowadays still a pure celebration of popular art, or has it become big business and a tough competition? Who really owns the biggest party on earth?

Olodum's Afro-Brazilian workshop March 15th&16th

Stay tune for Olodum's workshops on March 15th & 16th. Elliott Orr will confirm venue and time later. I'll keep you all posted.

" Inner Cow " released

Thank you Remko for listening and responding to our comments earlier in the blog.

The first rehearsal of the year was fun with the a-go-go bell lesson. My " inner cow " has been released ! . . . . and now Melanie's suggestion on a songbook . I should have asked for us to have a free massage after each performance ?!?!

Peace , Love, and MOOoooooh !

Discussion on the creation of our 'Samba Schoolbook'

I pitched the idea last to Remko that a 'Schoolbook' (not sure what to call it) might be a good idea and we pitched around quite a lot of idea's last night about what this might comprise of. Essentially it would be the collection of the songs we play with a CD per song in a ring binder with the elements decomposed in a way that folk can play along to it at home. As new songs are created we get issued a new page for our book given out at the class. The data would be standardised in presentation and format, and presented in a way that people of all levels of musical ability can quickly pick up. Plus other stuff! Remko asked me to take this on and project manage the creation of said item. So this is a call for all your input to create the best collection of information we can first pass. I have some idea's but I really need all your inputs. What I need at this stage is some indication of the information types that you think should be included. i.e. Song Name, Area of Brasil it comes from, the feel of the song, etc. The idea is that this would be given to each new member and to all existing members to boot strap our learning and take us to a new level of professionalism quickly.

Back to (samba) school!

Hi all, just a quick reminder that this Thursday the 24th we'll recommence the samba school classes. It has been a long break and I look forward to seeing all of you again, and to make some nice music! It's going to be an interesting year again!

See you on Thursday!

Following on from Erin & Claire's comments re costumes....

I'm only starting a new post because I couldn't work out how to do links and pictures in a response message *sigh* in the earlier post. Those more tech-savvy amongst us are now rolling their eyes. :)

At first, I had no idea what "ravey-type" pants even WERE but on checking it out, I think they have real potential - a very modern edgy look, combined with the practicality of places to put stuff.

As Remko said it's a good time to collectively start thinking about how we want to look. Do we want to have really elaborate spangly costumes like in Rio, or do we want a different look? Are we prepared to get together and have working bees to create these costumes?
Here's a few random thoughts I've had.......

- I think there are times when the group would look better wearing the same uniform, and also a time when the more casual “creative pink and green” is better. (turn, turn, turn). Getting a new uniform shouldn’t mean that’s all we wear forever and ever; I’d still like to see variety – wear what’s appropriate for different events.

- The “look” we’re after: It would be great to look like these guys...

But how do you clean these outfits and maintain them? Maybe we could have rave pants and some sort of top during casual daytime events, and make sparkly capes to put on over this for evening events where more glamour is wanted?

- Whichever way we go, we still want to look really striking. When we’re at an event like a big parade or at a soccer game, a solid block of colour looks much better.

For below the waist I like the idea of white shoes and white cotton slacks like this band.

I see these as able to be used both with the uniform and with any “creative casual” outfit.

Ideas for the top half? Well, here’s just one idea for consideration. Here is a pic of something I really like, although I have no idea how the surdo girlies keep their tops up!

Remember the Logan kids’ tops at “Uncharted”? They had cotton tops that were hand painted. Perhaps we could get white cotton tops and if there’s such a thing, washable paint in bright pinks and greens and paint the tops in tribal patterns like in the photo. People who wanted to wear really brief crop tops could do so; while others (like me!) could wear shirts. We could also have stripes of pink and green face paint.

Of course, as well as a costume like this, we could always create extra “pieces” if we wanted to be more shiny and dressed up for a night-time event. Things like cuffs and big collars in spangly materials could be worn over the top. And I haven’t even gotten around to head-dresses!

Just a few ideas for tossing around.

Where is Marcel now ?

Where do you think Marcel is now ? :

1. Roaming Amsterdam pharmacy looking for "pills" , any " white pills " that calm him down.
2. Looking for Dutch samba school where surdo players DON'T DANCE.
3. Forming a break-away samba school with NO DANCING POLICY.
4. . . . . . . . . . . . . ( fill in the blank. Use your imagination )
   

A new samba year

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had a great time, and that the break makes you think how much you miss samba ;-)

Classes will resume on Thursday 24 January. I was planning to start one week earlier but I'll spend a week working in Melbourne.

The start of a new year is always time for reflection, and even more so looking forward to the next year. So here's what I want to achieve this year:

• Most importantly, focus on our stage act. I've realised that we need to look much better on stage, it's not just about the music. So choreographies, great costumes, smiling and showmanship are all on the agenda
  
• As always, attract more members to the samba school
• Higher musical standard. I've heard some comments over the last year that 'it doesn't have to be perfect'. That attitude will need to change - and we'll work together on that
  
• More gigs

I look forward to your ideas for next year, please comment on this post. Happy new year!

nothing to smile about

As you guys can see, I miss you dearly, Thailand is miserable, even if they have beautiful beaches and fish to explore while snorkeling. But I miss you guys, one and all!

YOU'RE SURE ABOUT THE SMILES REMKO?? ALL RIGHT THEN!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !! JOYEUX NOEL !!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! BONNE ANNEE!!

HAPPY EASTER!! JOYEUSES PAQUES!!

Xmas break!

For those of you who weren't there last night, and actually also for those of you who were there last night, have a fantastic Xmas and a great new year! I look forward to seeing all of you again in the new year!! The main focus for the new year will be to improve our performance on stage, that includes the visual aspect: costumes, choreography, and smiling. Gail has volunteered to do a smiling workshop somewhere late January when she's back at school again.

I'll see you all in the new year. When? Well keep reading 'the blog'....

That little girl

Is it hot or Remko simply losing his pants ?!?!

Uncharted - once more

Just one more final message about the Uncharted performances to thank you all and congratulate you on a job well done! It was a rare occasion, these things don't happen that often and I think we really made a difference to the performance. I know most of us really enjoyed it, and that's great!

Special thanks to:

• Claire, Dale, Erin, Lynne, Miki, Patty (did I miss anyone?) for making the initial contact with Vulcana and for thinking "outside the box" about our involvement
• Erin for stepping up and learning to play repinique, as well as being able to lead such a wild and wonderful bunch of people
• Cedric for letting me play with his Frog one night
  
• All of you for committing so much of your time during rehearsals and the performances

At the end I accepted Vulcana's thank you card on behalf of all of us. I'll bring it in on Thursday and will also scan it in and post it on the Blog. I think it's appropriate that Erin will keep the original!

So, I hope to see you all on Thursday for this year's final rehearsal. I'll do my best to make it an extra special one to close off the year in style. Maybe we could also bring some nibblies for in the bar after the rehearsal?

Cheers
Remko

Picture links for Uncharted and Marcel & Dionnes Bash

link to

http://picasaweb.google.com/BlizWizz

for luscious pictures!

Do you know this chair?

This chair was left lonely and homeless after a wild and raucous party at Orleigh Park. Please let us know if you are the owner or know of a fitting home for this poor poor creature, before it will be deported on Tuesday!

PS: the chair's foster parents would like to thank everyone for a great farewell party!!!

PARTY PLAN B

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know that if indeed the impossible happens and it will rain Saturday after a 13 year drought,

PLAN B
Plan B is we'll move the party to our place at 1 Drake street, which is just up the road (Hoogley street, to be exact) from the West End Ferry stop.

There we will be playing the exciting party game Pack a Box with Dionne and Marcel
We're very much hoping we won't have to go for Plan B, though


PLAN C

Plan C is Cedric's party on Sunday.

(Mind you, Dionne and myself are unfortunately unlikely to be able to make it there, but that should not deter you from having a great time in our absence. See it as a dry run for your life from Tuesday onwards.)

Tomorrow's rehearsal in Logan

Mmm I didn't get an email from Celia so I called her and she said she sent it this morning to everyone...

So, in case you didn't get the email either, please be at the Logan Entertainment Centre for ther rehearsal tomorrow as close as possible to 6pm. Address is 170 Wembley Road, Logan.

If anyone has further info about this (or maybe a copy of the email itself), please post as a comment to this post.

Happy Birthday Marcel!!!

Jees, I can't believe you people!
I haven't even left the country yet, and already everybody seems to have forgotten about me.

And to think that today I'm actually celebrating my 21st birthday! (for the 19th time)

"Uncharted": Saturday Night

Uncharted Acts of Genius

Hi everyone! I just wanted to say that everyone has committed so much energy and effort into Uncharted, and it paid off with a fantastic show being offered to the community. Everyone performed extremely well, and I am so grateful that members were so supportive for me in my first time role of leading in performance, which was rather scary. Despite some mistakes from me, everyone held it together really well, and no one held any grudges, which is great.

Mel managed to record the show from the lighting box on Saturday night, so I am keen to see how that turned out. Maybe we could have a screening of it at my place after the last show at Logan??? Happy to provide local venue after this for drinks, food and debriefing (professional of course - keep yer undies on!).

All in all, well done, and let's look forward to a bright new year where we can expand our capacities further.

Cheers!

"Uncharted" : 20 mins before friday night performance

Last minute attempt to introduce the chicken dance by some sambista members.
Not interested.

URGENT - person needed for Saturday afternoon show

Hi all,

Celia has kindly offered to let the samba school bring someone in to film our performance on Saturday afternoon. As you know I have a video camera for just such a purpose.

The best way to do this would be to have someone seated in the front row. All they need to do is sit behind the camera, which will be set up on a tripod, and press record.

If you can bring someone for this very important task to the Saturday show, please respond to this blog as soon as possible.
We need to advise Celia of the person's name so that security will let them in, and let them use the camera.

By the way, CONGRATULATIONS ERIN!!!! You did a fantastic job last night. We are all very proud of you.

See y'all tonight and tomorrow.

Cheers,
Paul

Vulcasamba Circus

Samba Pyramid

"Uncharted"

Fare thee well, Australians

Fare thee well, Australians,
we must say goodbye to you now

As some of you may have heard, Dionne and Marcel are finally buggering off and leaving this country for good (well, for worse, actually) on Tuesday 18 December.

To make this even remotely bearable to us, please come and say goodbye on Saturday 15 December here in Orleigh Park from 4 pm. In the grand Australian tradition (amended to stingy Dutch values) this will be a BYOE party
(Bring Your Own Everything - drinks, eats, chairs, toys, furry pets, acceptable partners and/or offspring) as our own stuff should be all packed up, and besides, we are Dutch & cheap. There are even some electric barbecues, if we can fight off the resident Aussies.

There may also be a surprise raffle, as we are yet to find someone to buy our car. Participation will be mandatory and somewhat pricey. (Please contact us if you want to prevent this by buying the car before the 15^th)

We really hope you can make it Saturday the 15th!

Dionne & Marcel

Sashes of the world unite

Tomorrow (Wednesday), a very few very dedicated sambistas are doing a small but high profile gig at lunchtime for QLD Roar. They wanted a very small group (for a small room) so I didn't advertise this on the Blog.

We'd like to look our best, and likely need some more pink&green stuff and in particular sashes. Could I ask everyone who reads this message in time and has a sash at home to bring it to rehearsal tonight? You'll get it back tomorrow. Thanks!

HOUSE/CITIZENSHIP WARMING PARTY

Hi All,

Finally we are gonna have a house warming party (I guess we've had one every year for the past 7 years...) and we'll celebrate our Aussie citizenship as well.

So...

When: from 6pm on the 16th of December (remember it's because of Marcel and Remko)

Where: 7 Oakmont Grove, Karana Downs (see picture, still working on the renovation)

What to bring: a drink or some food you like (or one you want to get rid of, I guess)

The only thing guaranteed is some "Steak au Poivre" as part of Remko's exorcism (we need to get zeu French Freug out of his body although losing the "moustache" is a good sign already).

Hope to see you all there!

Cheers

Cedric and Stephanie and the kids and the cats and the possum and the parrots and the brown snakes.

Revisiting the Objectives

Here are some of the objectives from the planning day as explained below.

Organisational Functions

Structure of Primavera

• School
• Club
• Organisation
• Performance Group/s
• Mentor program
• Artisitc Direction

Bookings

• Maintaining contacts, finding new contacts, and finding venues
• Booking Diary for gigs and rehearsals

Business Structure

• Accounts
• Admin

Resource Management

• Instruments, loaning and buying
• People / human resources

Work Towards a Goal

Planning a special gig which was not a gig, but was an initiative to try new creative mixes of material (this was supposed to be planned for this Christmas - and that is exactly what happened through Uncharted! This one has been met initially.)

Projects

WEBSITE:

• new design and layout, which reflects our vision, is database driven, downloadable photos which can be regularly updated - Acheived! However the photo dump idea is now under discussion for a link on the brisamba website and may be implemented soon.
• maintenance/updating the website - Remko did a great job with the new website, and now the challenge is keeping it up to date. There are some nice recent pics which could be added maybe for example. We should get some from rehearsals at Uncharted and add to the ad on brisamba site.
• booking diary - Achieved, there is one on the new brisamba website.
• online feedback survey/response form on website - This was put in place only insofar as delivering the blog surveys among our members about various unimportant issues.

INDUCTION PROCESS

• Membership drives - recurring activities which are aimed at recruiting targeted areas or demographics as members, e.g. African group from Logan, Uni students, West Enders, New Farm Park'ers, Orleigh Park'ers, etc.
• User name, IDs, blog membership, etc. - Members to be offered these quickly when they show interest
• Intro to our group - how we work, members are given a choice of instruments, etc.
• Conceptual intro to Brazilian music - cultural details and history
• Instrument based tutorials - proper introduction to instruments and some basic skills by Remko or section member
• Incorporate awareness of which sections need reinforcement - recruit for specific sections
• Mentoring - members will mentor new people and welcome into their section, encouraging them to jump in and showing patterns slowly, etc.

COSTUMES

• personalised? everyone's different by same colour swatch to work from could work to coordinate
• design
• finance
• regular reviews
• maintenance
• must look impressive, or spectacular
• good to have a couple of versions for formal, and casual.
• T-shirt plus fancy uniform (members could buy their own T-shirt)

BANNER/FLAG

• Need a person to carry the flag or banner too. Could be handing out business cards as well..

MARKETING

• New flyers
• Discussion about updating business cards
• Dispersing flyers around targeted communities, or wide as possible, including the Powerhouse, as half the band was recruited through there!
• Registering with the Councils
• Create an info pack/DVD for marketing to potential employers, etc.
• Festival watch - all to be involved in engaging gigs where possible

RECRUITMENT DRIVES

• Recruit dancers
• Play in New Farm Park, Orleigh, etc. to recruit and play for fun, generate interest, etc. Have someone on hand to pass out flyers and cards
• Regular recruitment drives, based on numbers and growth possibilities (if we don't have enough of certain instruments, we may have to recruit for specific sections)

SHOWMANSHIP

• Smile, Have Fun! Remember when you are rehearsing and when you are performing
• Coordinated choreography, within whole band, within sections and individual choreography as well maybe
• Fusion of styles for fun
• Use of other instrumentalists, eg bass player, flautist, singers
• Spare earplugs for audience and members
• Need dancers!
• Playfulness in performance, act out your part

MANUAL / CD / DVD

• Procedures: good for visual people to learn from
• Incorporate group's artistic direction
• Set lists for use in performance, practising the order in rehearsals
• Visual musical notation for each instrument
• Name all songs we play for easy reference in conversation or on blog/members only website

HOST AN 'END OF YEAR' SHOW

• Gives people something to work towards
• The spark of new material
• Networking, meet other artists
• Fundraising - costumes, instruments, etc.
• Look at getting a regular gig about quarterly or so, and work with other artists and groups to put together similar show to Uncharted, but more like a list of various segments, with lots of guest artists.

__________________________________________________

TASK LIST

1. set list and rehearsal (Not Achieved, but have implemented a set list through Uncharted - new way for us to work)
2. money collection at rehearsal (Achieved! Patty has kindly stepped up to the plate much of the time, and this can rotate if necessary)
3. website and photo updates (Not Achieved - some photos on blog, discussion about more links over Xmas period...
4. answering emails (Achieved - I think this was Remko going mad at us for not responding to his emails about gigs, etc. - I think we are communicating more regularly through the blog, by email and by phone)
5. flyer drops - regular (Not Achieved!)
6. choreography (Also Not Achieved! or not explored properly yet anyway)

:) Please respond with your thoughts about either the agreed aims and objectives from last year, or about the ideas for new things which I posted before this one.

IDEAS AND REVISITING OBJECTIVES

Hi all! I decided I would draft a little "brain dump" of ideas for our samba school/performance group. These are a combination of my own ideas and those of several others in the band. If I have forgotten any suggested, I apologise. I will also revisit some of the results of the strategic planning we undertook last year. Some of the objectives discussed have been met and others not, so I would suggest now is a good time to focus on the ideas still floating. Cheers!

IDEAS:
Instrument Variations

• Playing the triangle for one or two songs (eg. Magalena)
• Use of singing (eg. Magalena)
• Vocal percussion
• Vocal cuica at various poignant moments
• Tri-tone Samba whistles
• Creative attachment ideas for Tamborims, Agogo and Pandeiro, so that players can wear a second instrument hooked onto the belt tab of our overalls, for example. Use one of those G-clasps and hook onto a short tied lace looped through a metal ring on the taborim or pandeiro..?
• Erin and Remko to do a Duet de Repinique: e.g. take turns doing a paradinha (calls) each, Remko first, and then Erin leading the band into one of the calls from the Junior Bloco link I posted a while ago. This could continue on into the swing samba groove we have been playing more of lately, with the overlapping triplets played by Erin and Remko
• Have extra surdos on hand for some members to jump onto surdo for a powerful effect and maybe explore the melody of the surdos more. We can always have beaters in pockets or whatever
• Snare section does a solo break where Tamborim players turn around, caixas step forward, and play syncopated patterns on the tamborims, and maybe on their drums here and there too. Tamborim players might turn, bend to one knee and hold up tamborim above head
• Attach cowbells and jamblocks to snare drums for caixa section, to have more timbale flavour every now and then. Use for drumline sounds too

Song Variations

• Jungle: the surdo part could be followed by: left arm up, then right arm up to click the wood of right beater onto wood of the left, and repeat.
• Timbalada (Jungle version #2?): could feature sections led by Tam Tam (Paul has one doesn't he?)

Other Ideas

• Improve showmanship: smiling, looking like you are enjoying, hamming it up for an audience, playing a character, having fun and being mischievious. Exude energy and movement, confidence and participation.
• Put together some coordinated dance moves and section formations for certain songs. Work on getting quality of sound and movements in time.
• Invite dancers and students who are into samba to come along and dance with us at rehearsals whenever they like, so we can network, learn the style of playing to get the best out of samba dancers, work on joint initiatives in future
• Recruit some of the African group into the band!! They'd be into it I think. This might really help with the singing part too!

Fusion Sounds

• African 6/8 patterns (as song or as intro)
• 6/8 timing blending back into 4/4 or 2/4
• African dance segment in response to the change of genre
• Drumline styled energetic performance pieces with lots of formalised grandeur and erect postures, movement and dynamics with syncopated rhythms, impressive sticking and a few mischievious tricks (I'm looking at you, Denis..)
• Experiment with non-batucada instruments mixed with samba, eg. keyboard, flute, bass guitar, saxophone, viola/violin, congas, etc.
• Experiment with fusion of different genres e.g. Brazilian and Flamenco? Andean flutes...
• Mix in some more Afrocuban sounds, through tamborims playing son and rumba clave (2/3 or 3/2), and repinique playing similar timbale style, with bells if possible. Could make use of rim knocking here for effect (e.g. like the 'boom boom' in the soccer match for Unchartered but with beater wood hitting onto the rims of the surdos, and snares. Tamborim to do syncopated solo patterns over the top of it, with effective use of pause-

Tamara's wedding ( Pt II )

has anyone ever noticed...

That not only is "G.R.E.S. Unidos da Primavera" Brisbane's first and only Samba School, but we are also very likely the only samba school who, according to our blog header, performed for huge audiences at events like the Gold Goast Indy!

We rule, I say!
(well, as of next week you guys rule, and I no longer rule with you. Anyone getting tears in their eyes yet?)

Uncharted: Brisamba Call sheet

Below are the times for the Uncharted production at the Judith Wright Centre.

Saturday 1 December 12.00 - 5.00pm Full rehearsal with whole cast

Tuesday 4 December 5.30 - 9.30pm Technical rehearsal with whole cast

Wednesday 5 December 5.30 - 10.00pm Dress rehearsal

Thursday 6 December 5.30 - 9.30pm Preview (performance)

Friday 7 December 6.00 - 9.30pm Opening Night

Saturday 8 December 12.30 - 3.30pm & 5.30 - 9.30pm Closing Night and Bump Out

Plucky little devil called Cedric offers hope for his species' future

Although I personally feel it's somewhat disrespectful to a fellow Aussie, it is nevertheless good news for the wildlife population...

A RAY of hope has appeared for the beleaguered Tasmanian devil, with the discovery that one of the marsupials has produced an immune response to the ghastly facial tumour disease.

Scientists who injected treated tumour cell lines into a young male devil called Cedric found, for the first time, that the animal produced a detectable antibody.

read more here

2008 Eurovision contest

Will and Erin were working on a Abba's inspired samba rhythm for the 2008 Eurovision

Rehearsals for the rest of the year

With the circus rehearsals and performances taking up quite a bit of time, I just realised there's only two normal rehearsals left for the rest of the year: this week, on the 29th, and 20 December, which will be the last rehearsal before summer break.

Rehearsals on 6, 13 and 27 December will be canceled.

I am around in January, so we could start again on say 10 January. What do you think?

Instruments

I've found someone who has a few samba instruments for sale. No surdos at this stage, but he's got a few snares, some big loud shakers, and also some repiniques. Please let me know if you're interested.

On another note: did someone take one of the big shakers home on Thursday? I'm missing one.

Costumes for Uncharted - details asap please

ATTENTION 'UNCHARTED' PERFORMERS!

Please see the message below from 'Uncharted' team.

"Hi this is Tiffany designing for Uncharted with vulcana... I need to get everyones height , shirt and trouser measurements please so i can get your overalls picked up...yay!I'll also be sending you an email but if we could get thesemeasurements asap that would be excellent.. cheers tiffany"

If you haven't already replied to Tiffany, please forward the following measurements to claire.petersen@brisamba.com and I will pass them on.

Height -
Shirt -
Trouser -

Cheers,

Claire

Olodum tickets booked!

For those who wanted to go to Olodum, I've just booked 16 tickets, rows E and F, seats 21-28! So book the date in your calendar, I can't wait! Tickets are $128 each, I've paid for them for now so please reimburse me when you're ready.

Update: some of you have asked me for bank details. If you'd like to pay this way, please drop me an email and I'll reply with details. Also, when you have paid, please drop me an email as well so I can keep track of it. Cheers!

Tonight - be on time please

We've got a fairly busy program tonight, with Vulcana attending our rehearsal again. As some will have to leave early tonight, I'd like to start as early as possible, so please be on time. Thanks!

Pride 2008

Just received the following email:

Hi Remko

Wanted to let you know that it has been decided to change the Rally and March next year so we will not be requiring the services of the band for 2008. Going for a disco atmosphere. I would like to thank you for being a part of our festival for the past 4 years. It has been great working with you and hearing the band. I will never forget the first year with the sound of the drums filling the city.

Thanks again and all the best for the future

Scott

PS If you ever need a reference, please don’t hesitate to pass on my details

I guess they found out that Marcel is leaving for Holland...

Tamara's Wedding

Jambezi

Hey,
For anyone interested in hearing more of the marimba band that played at Tamara and Michael's wedding. You can find (and hear) them here...
http://www.myspace.com/jambezimusic

Denis Jr

Hi all

I stumbled upon this fim of Denis as a youngster, up to his old tricks as usual..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjMZJq2VwNI&feature=related

Some call it A.D.D. while others hypothesize that the devil hath overtaken, but I think more likely it's the sangria....

Olodum in Brisbane!

For those of us who missed Olodum in Bahia, and for all of you who haven't made it to Brazil yet, here's a second chance to see Olodum!

Olodum, the legendary samba-reggae group from Salvador, Bahia, will be touring in Australia and will perform at QPAC on Tuesday 18 March 2008, at 8pm.

I really recommend all of the samba school to attend this performance. Not only will it be a great gig, we also will be able to get some ideas for new breaks, choreography, and costumes. Tickets are not cheap but it's a lot cheaper than actually going to Brazil! There's two ticket prices, $128 for front section, $102 for back section. My strong preference is the front section, and I hope you all agree.

I've set up a register for this event, let's get tickets together. Please register before Tuesday 20 November, or if you really can't do this send me an email. I volunteer to buy the tickets on our behalf, and you can reimburse me later.

Tamara's wedding

For those of you going to Tamara's wedding this Saturday, I've got a slight logistic challenge which means I won't be able to transport (m)any instruments that day. So on Thursday, we have to share the load. Let's discuss then...

costume call

Hello costumers,

I have to get some pants made for a dance performance. Can anyone recommend a costume maker?

While I welcome comical responses, this is a serious blog, so could someone please give me a lead?

Thanks,
Paul

Possible gig Tuesday 13 November

Update 12pm Tuesday - THIS GIG HAS BEEN CANCELLED

I just received a call from an agency regarding a gig at the Surfers Paradise Mariott hotel pool next Tuesday the 13th of November. We've not finalised a detailed program yet, but it sounds like a lot of fun. I hope there will be enough of you to make it happen, as it's on a Tuesday night. I'll post more details later as they come in, but for now I need to know who can make it, so please register here. Thanks!

Primavera Mascot

REMEMBER WHEN YOUR MOTHER TOLD YOU NEVER TO TAKE CANDY FROM A STRANGER....
...THIS IS WHO SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT!!!!

Bloco Coringa

HI! I just wanted to share this , because I'm a sharing caring type of gal. I like the style of these guys, because it's a great groove, the dancer is funky, and the band plays well while they perform simple dance steps. Each section responds to the others in their calls, especially the repi, caixa and surdo.

Paul here's some Timba action for you, and Katherine too, if you're still blogging on every so often. Haven't heard from Donna in awhile either! Remko, you may reserve some disdain for it all being so choreographed, but it certainly 'aint sloppy, that's fur sure!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srA-xBUO1yE&mode=related&search=

I tend to appreciate the junglesque undertones of the dancer's outfit (despise the band's lack of costume-wise imagination however), but that's the feral in me. I kind of imagined our band with an eclectic, street-jungle mash-up sort of outfit, but with some definitive glam to satisfy Remko's Sgt. Pepper/Disco Stu/Dragqueen/Gary Glitter leanings. ha ha

Groove Brazil Party

Hi folks,
Angelo and Gaby are having a party tonight to celebrate 2 years of Groove Brazil in Brisbane!

Where: Corner Vulture st and Wellington Rd
When: 8.30pm Friday 2nd Nov.
Cost: $10
There will a class from 8.30pm and performances from around 10pm.

Some of us from samba school might even take to the stage...

Hope to see you there!